Warning(s) — Tickle fluff, mild angst at the beginning, swearing (mild)
Ship(s) — I DO ship them, but this is platonic (you can see it as romantic if you'd like!)
Summary — Come to think of it, what...IS Balloony's string? Is it thick, or is it thin? Soft, or rough? Leathery, or silky? Or is it just straight up a stretchy string? Only one way to find out!
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Balloony had been sitting in the squishy green grass, in the strange small area with small mountains. Their new game area, AKA where they'd all be having their contests from now on.
(Lets just pretend Balloony didn't get eliminated. Okay? Okay!)
Balloony stared at his hand. It reminded him. Reminded him of when Four physically pulled his circular hand, morphing it into an actual gripper with fingers. His hand had eventually returned to it's originally round, digitless form, but that had HURT. It had hurt a LOT.
Balloony still remembered how painful that was. The quick yet slow feeling of his hand being twisted and pulled into a thumping knot that wasn't normal for him or the other objects. Even THINKING of that almost made him wanna cry. Balloony NEVER wanted to experience that again. That was...excruciating!
Balloony couldn't help but let out a small sniffle, hiding his face into his knees. Well, as much as his bendy legs would allow him to.
. . .
Lollipop woke up, rubbing one of her eyes with a yawn as she hopped out of bed. She glanced up at the clock...12:24. AM. That was definitely NOT the preferred time to wake up. Oh well, she was already up...might as well take a strut in the narrow space.
As the lollipop walked under the starry sky, she spotted a familiar balloon buddy in a small patch of green, tinted a slight blue from the night sky above. Lollipop plopped down next to Balloony, leaving the moment completely silent as she looked up at shimmering stars of light that sprinkled across that night sky, lighting it up with a twinkle with each ball of plasma.
In the middle of sniffling and hiccuping, still struggling to keep soft sobs in, the balloon felt a finger rub up and down the middle of his string. He immediately jolted jumped and tensed, letting out a "UAGH-?! Egh..?" Lollipop didn't seem to notice (or just didn't fucking care), almost inspecting the string in curiosity. She practically his string-torso in her hand, still using the other to slowlyyy trace up and down..up...and down.
Lollipop heard a few stuffed giggles here and there but still payed no mind to it, rubbing and fiddling with the unknown material in her hand(s). The inflated victim next to her was squirming ever so slightly, a noticeable smile creeping it's way into his face as airy, contained sniggers escaped his mouth. He even started to tap his foot a bit.
Lollipop hummed to herself. "I can NOT figure out what type of string this is. Definitely stretchy, but I don't know what else. Balloony, you are QUITE a mystery." The candy on a stick said light-heartedly, gently scritching to see if that helped her 'observation' at all.
Well, that certainly didn't help BALLOONY'S situation!
The poor, current experiment was dissolving into a fit of hysterical giggles. "L-LohOLLI-!" The Carribean green balloon attempted to gently push Lollipop's hands away. She seemed to notice, wondering was going on.
"Balloony? What's going on with--" She cut herself off. "..oh. Ooohhhh." A small, sly smirk slowly spread across her face. "Ohoho, does this perhaps TICKLE you a bit, Balloony? Well them, you wouldn't mind if I..experimented..a little more, would ya?"
"Ihi-- Uhm-- Gah-- W-Whahat's that suhuposed to mean-?" Balloony sniggered, covering his mouth a little.
Lollipop hummed, only answering by raising her hand up, and beginning to twirl the mysterious string in her hand. Y'know, like twirling your hair! This caused the typically cheerful individual to burst into..well..cheerful giggles, hiding his face in his palms. Lollipop's smile widened.
"Aww, yeah, you're tickish~! Hehe..cute." The cocky individual teased a bit, Balloony reacting with a few flustered stammers. "I-I-- GUH-- AH-?" Lollipop couldn't help but hold in a chuckle, simply fiddling with his string some more. With his string trapped and lightly wrapped around her first hand, her other came along and joined in, gently rubbing and tracing with a taunting touch.
Balloony curled up and squealed in response, kicking his legs. "LOHOLLIPOP!!" Balloony tried everything he could, twisting and turning, stomping and kicking, pushing and flailing, but Lollipop had him in a firm grasp. Gentle, but firm. Speaking of Lollipop, she could help but laugh at Balloony's attempts to escape the tickles, raising an eyebrow. "Aww...look, your big, inflated noggin is trying SO HARD to get away, isn't it~? Darn, too bad.."
And suddenly, Balloony LOST it. Lollipop now gently scritched up and down the string, giggling 'evilly' with a mischievous smile on her face. "Y'know, this is WAY more fun than Four."
"..."
"..Don't tell him I said that, though.."
Balloony was too busy screeching and squealing with laughter to respond, almost looking like a little ball at this point!
"..pft--" Lollipop HAD to hold back a snicker. Okay, this was pretty funny. The playful scritches continued, moving up and down, side to side, in a circle..this continued on for a while, before Balloony shouted out a loud--*
"OHOKAY-- OKAY, OHOKAY-!! IHI CAHAN'T!! CUT IHIT OUT, STOP, STOHOP!! PLEHEHEASE-!" Balloony begged, gently grabbing onto his friend's hands. Lollipop paused, and thought about it. "Well, my experiment HAS been over with for a while, and you look like you need a break, so...fine, I suppose~!" With that, Lollipop untwirled her finger(s), stopped the scritching, and put her hands in her lap.
Balloony sighed in relief, rubbing his string to get rid of those left over weird tingles. He giggled a little here and there, laying his head against the pink lolly. Lollipop blinked, staying still for a second, before she sighed, putting an arm around his shoulder. She spoke for the final time that night before going to bed.
Summary - While their contestants are busy, Four takes the opportunity to play with his co-host.
Word Count - 760
Note - This fic was written for Day 1 (Anticipation) of Tickletober 2025.
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Four and X were at the Pillary Ruins, watching their contestants compete in the current contest.
The pair sat together in the grass, with X absent-mindedly swinging his legs. His attention was split between watching the contestants and daydreaming.
That is, until he caught a sudden movement in the corner of his eye.
In a brief blur of blue, Four had quite literally slid behind him. X, not thinking much of the action, returned to his daydreaming and semi-observing of the contestants.
He was quickly pulled back to reality again, however, when Four’s hands snaked around to his front, coming to rest on his lower two nubs.
X tilted slightly back in a vain attempt to view the other. “Four?”
“What is it, X?” He heard Four respond.
“What are you doing?”
“Mm nothing.”
“Oh, alright.” X sat back upright, his legs remaining still as he registered the slight warmth from Four’s hands against his body.
Just then, Four’s hands scrunched into X, quickly returning to their original position a few seconds later.
X jolted, startled by the feeling. “Ah! Four!”
“What?” Four replied from behind once more.
“What did you just do?”
“I already told you, I’m not doing anything.”
“Hmm,” X considered the claim, “okay, if you say so.”
X remained suspicious. Despite not actually seeing anything, he was sure that he had felt Four move. He glanced down, subtly keeping his eyes trained on Four’s hands, which were currently motionless.
Not a minute later, however, X watched as Four scrunched into him, twice, in rapid succession.
“Aha-!” A laugh was forced out of X. “Fohour!”
“Hrrngh, what is it this time?”
“I know that was you! I caught your hands moving!”
“Well then,” Four growled, “if you’re so certain…”
Four began relentlessly scrunching his hands into X, who fell backwards into him, laughing.
“Fohohour! Wahait!”
“Is this what you prefer, X?” Four taunted, keeping up the action.
“Nohoho! Stohop ihit!”
Four switched from scrunching to rapidly scribbling against the yellow surface.
“How about this?”
“AHAHA! WOHORSE! HAHA!” X cackled, waving his arms in the air.
“Kitchy-koo~”
“NOHO! NO TEHEASING!”
X squirmed around in Four’s hold, unable to evade his scribbling fingers.
Eventually, starting to feel slightly overwhelmed, X gripped Four’s wrists, prying them off and holding them away from his body. Four made no effort to stop him.
Still lying back against the other, X regained his breath, Four’s hands remaining stationary in his grasp. He soon felt Four’s arms retract and allowed his own to flop to the ground.
After resting in silence for a while, X suddenly gave a small start. He had felt a poke to his side, right in the spot between his two nubs. It was shortly followed by another poke to the opposite side.
“Ehe, Fohour, stop it.” X giggled out as a third poke landed.
“No.” Four hummed, poking X a fourth time.
Before he could respond, a barrage of pokes were suddenly launched against X’s sides.
“Ehehe! Nohoho!” X attempted to move away, but Four yanked him back.
He then lightly pinched X’s sides, keeping hold as X started to squirm. “Boop.”
“Aah! Lehet goho!” X squealed, wriggling around to try and free himself.
“Struggling will only make it worse.” Four commented, giving his sides an additional, small squeeze.
“Nohoho! Relehease me!”
Four grumbled. “Fine, if you insist.”
He then let go of X, allowing the other a moment of respite, before raising his hands and sharply tasing X in the sides.
“EHEEK!” X shrieked, reflexively kicking out his legs. The action caused him to slip and fall back, landing directly in Four’s lap.
Opening his eyes, X was greeted by the sight of an upside-down Four smiling down at him.
“Hello X.”
“Hi Four…” X sighed, a tired smile on his face.
Four’s hands began to descend towards him, fingers wiggling.
X quickly intercepted, clutching Four’s wrists.
“Noho! No more.”
“You sure?” Four grinned, wiggling his fingers once more.
“Yehes.”
“Okay.” Four pulled his hands back, planting his palms on the ground as he watched X sit up.
Righting himself, X felt a hand land on top of him, patting him shortly thereafter.
“Want to get ready for when they finish the contest?”
“Yeah!” X exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. “Let’s do it.”
The pair of co-hosts then set to work, planning for the remainder of the episode.
Each of them genuinely cared for the other, which was evident in the small moments they shared together, away from the action. Neither one would trade their chaos-filled relationship for the world.
